Clinton up by double digits after Trump tape’s release

Hillary Clinton has opened up a double-digit lead on Donald Trump in a new poll conducted entirely after the release of video in which the Republican nominee talks about groping women without their consent.

The Democratic nominee also eclipsed the 50-percent margin in a head-to-head matchup.  

{mosads}Clinton leads the GOP nominee 52 percent to 38 percent in the new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll conducted on Saturday and Sunday. In a four-way matchup, Clinton leads by 11 points, 46 percent to 35 percent, with Libertarian nominee Gary Johnson posting 9 percent.

During the last NBC/WSJ poll in September, Clinton led Trump by 7 points in the two-way race and 6 points in the four-way scenario.

Clinton’s 14-point margin in the head-to-head and 11-point margin in the four way represent Clinton’s largest lead since an August McClatchy/Marist poll. That poll was taken after Clinton’s post-convention bounce and as Trump faced criticism over his comments about a Gold Star family. 

The results come as Trump continues to face serious criticism from within his own party over the video, which was released Friday. More than two-dozen GOP lawmakers, including Senate Republican Conference Chairman John Thune (S.D.), want him to step aside.

The polls had already been trending in Clinton’s direction after a strong performance at the first presidential debate late last month.

While Republicans had hoped Trump could build on running mate Mike Pence’s showing at his own debate last week, the fallout from the video has given Democrats new ammunition and threatens to further derail Trump’s campaign.

Since it’s only the first major poll released in the aftermath of those comments, it’s unclear whether the NBC/WSJ results are indicative of a larger trend or not. But the large lead will likely prompt even more celebration from Democrats, and concern from Republicans. 

The new poll also shows worrying results for the GOP’s efforts down-ballot, as 49 percent said they wanted Democrats to control Congress compared to 42 percent who wanted Republican control. Mark Murray, a the senior political editor at NBC News, tweeted that that margin is the highest since the 2013 government shutdown.

NBC and the WSJ surveyed 500 registered voters and the poll has a margin of error of between 4.4 and 4.6 percent depending on the sample.